Legends of Cricket: Brian Lara - part 3
Lara was the greatest player of his time and the fame started to have a negative effect on Lara’s genius as a batsman. For a few years Lara lost the form that had made him feared by bowlers the world over. Lara’s abilities faded into mediocrity along with
the performance of the team and Lara’s critics were all over him. Even with the mighty Brian Lara in charge of the West Indies team, their status as a cricketing powerhouse was suffering and the results were going against them. Still, in 1998-99, Lara showed
the world why he was still the best batsman on the planet and a living legend, when he scored 213, 153 not out and 100 runs against the Australians who were without doubt the best team in the world.
He defied the Australians single handedly and reminded the world and the fans of the Lara they had fallen in love with. Many saw this as the last spark of a dying fire as Lara’s form began to decline soon after. He gained weight and with the added pressure
of injuries Lara’s footwork(that had been impeccable) began to suffer. This is when Garry Sobers decided to help Lara regain his form.
Sobers helped Lara in improving the flaws in his technique and the results were immediate, Lara went on to score 688 runs in the test series against Sri-Lanka in 2001-02. It was 42% of the runs scored by the entire West Indies batting lineup in the series
and Lara was back at his very best. This performance made sure Lara was made the skipper of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 cricket team again.
Although Lara was back at his legendary best, his team was losing matches continuously. Lara was the lone ranger in the entire batting lineup. He was light-years ahead of his team mates and this was proved to the world when, in the final test against England,
Lara posted a record breaking score of 400 not out. The first time in the history of test cricket that a batsman scored a quadruple century. This not only beat his previous best score of 375 but also beat the record that Mathew Hayden had scored against the
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 cricket team in 2003.
This score meant that Lara had become the first player to have ever reclaimed the world test batting record. A remarkable feat which he accomplished at the age of 35. This ensured that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Brian-Charles-Lara-c48471 would forever be remembered amongst cricket lovers
as the greatest batsman to have ever played the game.
What was unfortunate for Lara was that he was undoubtedly the best batsman in the world but in a team of underperformers where Lara was left to deal with the opposition on his own. This was highlighted when after Lara’s legendary feat of 400 not out the
West Indies team played against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747. It was a shocking performance by Lara’s team and he was disgusted by it. Lara offered to resign if his team didn’t improve. Although the immediate test series against England was a complete disappointment (losing
every game), the West Indies team shocked the world at the ICC Champions Trophy where Lara’s team of underperformers managed to defeat England in the final.
With his career coming to an end, the last remarkable feat of Lara came in November 2005 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. Lara went past 11,174 career runs to beat Allan Border’s record and to cement his place as a true cricketing Legend.
Sadly, this was the last spark of a dying career as Lara edged towards retirement and in 2007, Brian Lara announced that he will be retiring from international cricket. Lara played a total of 299 one day international matches, one short of 300 and thus came
to a depressing end, the career of one of the most brilliantly gifted batsman to have ever played the game.
Although the world of cricket continues to move on with the passage of time, being graced by emerging talents, no one can ever forget the legendary Brian Charles Lara. Undoubtedly the greatest batsman to have ever played the game. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muttiah-Muralitharan-c78157,
rated as the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanac, and the highest wicket-taker in both Test cricket and in One Day Internationals (ODIs), hailed Lara as his toughest opponent among all batsmen in the world. The genius of Lara lay
in the magic that he provided the fans of cricket the world over.
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